Chasing Shadows
by TigerslashWarriorCat
Summary: Tiger, a dark brown tabby tom with unusual light blue eyes, wakes up in a clearing in a pine forest surrounded by a large group of strange cats. He has no memory of himself, other than his name, he is 6 moons old, and how to walk and talk. The group introduce themselves as ShadowClan, and take Tiger in. Will Tiger remember himself before?
1. Chapter 1

Tiger woke up, a throbbing pain in his head. He looked around, confused. He didn't remember anything. He let out a yelp when he saw a massive group of other cats surrounding him. He didn't know who they were.

"Seems like a little kit who hit his head on something. Let's put him out of his misery." A voice snarled.

"Stop! The poor thing needs help, not death Shadestrike!" Another voice declared. Tiger shuffled up to see a white she-cat with fiery orange eyes pushback a massive black tom.

"Hello. What's your name and where are you from? I'm Frostfire."The she-cat meowed.

"Uh, my name's Tiger and, I-I don't really remember where I'm from, actually." Tiger mumbled, the pain in his head intensifying to the point of extreme agony.

He let out a screech and stumbled over, collapsing onto a clump of moss. Everything went red as blood ran over his eyes. He felt something drag over his face and something being plastered onto his forehead. He clenched his teeth as his head started burningagain.

"Tiger, I'm going to have to ask you to keep still and eat these black seeds." Frostfire whispered.

He reached his head up and saw two, tiny black seeds laying on a leaf. Tiger lapped them up and laid his head back down, immediately overcome with drowsiness.

Tiger woke to the feel of a tail brushing his muzzle. He shook his head and looked up. A silver tabby she-cat, about his age, was standing with her tail tickling his muzzle as she was speaking with Frostfire.

"Frostfire, I'm here for the mousebile." The cat mumbled, obviously not happy with whatever that was.

"Nightflower's ticks have already been taken care of, Rainpaw. Can you help me with something else, though? Get me some Thyme for Tiger, and put some fresh cobwebs on his scratch. It's pretty much healed, but I want to be careful. I know you're tired  
ofmedicine cat duties, but your leg won't be healed for another ten to twelve days. Be helpful while you can, Rainpaw."

Rainpaw grunted and walked out of sight. Tiger laid his head back down, his head still throbbing. He heard something drop next to him. He opened his eyes to a pair of dark brown ones. He felt something being pulled off his forehead and caught sight ofa  
white clump of something with a few drops of blood on it laying on the ground. He felt another one of those things being put on his head.

"Eat the leaves." Rainpaw' voice said as she plopped down next to Tiger.

Tiger obeyed, licking up the leaves and grimacing at the taste.

"Yeah, I'm caught up in here while my friends are training, just because I hurt my stupid leg falling out of a tree. My fourthday training, and I fall out of a tree." She muttered, flicking a piece of moss off her ear.

"You might be training with us soon, if you stay with us. It's me, my name's Rainpaw by the way. I'm an other apprentices are named Pinepaw, he's my brother, and there's also Beetlepaw, Darkpaw, and Redpaw. Oh wait, you don't know anythingaboutclan  
life, do you? Well, you start off in the nursery, where it's you and your siblings, if you have any, and some others, mothers with kits, mothers expecting kits, and such. Up until you're six moons old, you have the name 'kit'.Like, Rainkit,or  
Pinekit. When you become an apprentice. Then you have the name paw, like Rainpaw, and you get a warrior mentor. When you become a Warrior, you have any name, like Blackmask lot whatever suffix. If you become a medicine cat, then youkeepthe  
Warrior prefix and suffix. The medicine cat takes care of the clan, and heals their wounds and stuff. The next rank is anelder. You keep your Warriorname when you become an elder. Another rank is Deputy, and you keep the Warrior name.  
/You're the second to the leader, and when they die you become leader, unless you die first. The final rank is leader. Any kit wants to be leader. You take the suffix 'star' too." She meowed at an extremely fast speed. She slapped her tail over her  
mouth.

She flattened her ears and mumbled, "sorry."

"It's fine, I'm a good listener." Tiger meowed, trying not to laugh. She batted at him playfully and purred.

"Getting comfy with the new kitten, are we Rainpaw?" A voice hissed. There was a dark ginger tom with blue eyes standing in the entrance of the medicine den, his tail lashing.

"Redpaw, honestly. You expect me to not talk to anyone while my leg is hurt? C'mon." Rainpaw retorted, baring her teeth. Redpaw rolled his eyes and padded off.

"That piece of foxdung has had a thing for me since we were kits. He's so annoying!" Rainpaw exclaimed, her ears back.

Tiger nodded and looked around. "So, you live here. You eat here, you play here, you grow up here, and you die here." He said, half to himself.

"Yeah, it gets kinda boring sometimes, but there's always ways to have fun, even if you're sick or hurt." She said.

"Rainpaw! Tiger's been out for three days, his head shouldn't hurt too bad now. Give him a tour of the camp, and gather moss from the tallpine, okay?" Frostfire called.

"Fine!" Rainpaw called back. She helped Tiger up and they walked out of the medicine den.

* * *

 **Hello! This is my first story, and I hope you like it! This chapter is pretty short, as will the next few, but I'll try and update as much as I can. School just got out, so I'll be updating fairly often. Again, I hope you like it! Thanks,**

 **-Tigerslash**


	2. Chapter 2

Tiger and Rainpaw padded out of the medicine den and out into the clearing. Tiger looked around, taking in the scene. He had never seen so many cats. There were big cats, small cats, old cats, and young cats. They all looked up at him, some faces were  
/kind, others angry. He recognized the big black tom that almost killed him, Shadestrike.

"Okay, so a tour of the camp. This big clearing is our camp, with the dens all around. That heap of fresh-kill over there is called the prey heap. It's where you put your prey after you hunt. You can't eat your prey you catch when you catch it, no  
/matter

how hungry you are. The clan must be fed first.

The next den is the leader's den, that tall rock over there. That little hole is where the den is. The rock is hollowed out, so that's where Strikestar, our leader, sleeps. The top of the rock is where Strikestar calls the clan for meetings. We usually  
/have meetings when there's a change in the clan, like somebody is retiring to an elder or a new apprentice or Warrior or deputy is made.

That thick hollow fallen log on the right side when you come into camp isthe elder's den. You see that tree rightthere at the edge of camp a few tail lengths from the elder's den? There's big holes hollowed out all through the trunkwhere

/our medicine cat stores his herbs. That little bush next to it is where he sleeps, and the bigger one next to the bush where he sleeps is wherethe patients sleep.

That really big hollowed-out cave across the medicine cat's den is the Warriors den. The more experienced warriors and the deputy sleep in the middle, where it's warmer. The newer warriors sleep closer to the edge.

The last den is that smaller cave at the back of camp. It's where the apprentices sleep. Well, that's the tour of camp." She explained. Tiger tried to retain all the information.

"Okay, I think I remember. Now, what's the tallpine?" He inquired.

"The tallpine is the tallest tree in our territory. It's near the stream that goes through the middle of our territory. Follow me, and I'll show you." She said, bounding out of camp. They curved to the right and ran straight for a while until they  
/heard

water flowing. They skidded to a halt.

There was a thick stream that cut through the ground. It was relatively straight, with a few slight curves here and there. Rainpaw bent her head down and lapped up a bit of the water, and Tiger did the same.

His paws ached and he wanted to rest, but Rainpaw didn't plan to. She started running again, veering sharply to the left so they were running downstream.

Rainpaw easily cleared logs and roots, while Tiger realized he must look pathetic next to her, scrabbling over logs and panting heavily. Rainpaw slowed and signaled for Tiger to stop with a flick of her tail.

He halted and watched as Rainpaw started stepping lightly and slowly advancing on a large lizard. She pounced, slamming her paws down on the lizard and killing it with a clean and quick nip to its neck.

She straightened and turned to Tiger, the lizard clamped in her jaws and a happy lookin her dark brown eyes.

"My first catch! I'm not really supposed to be running or hunting but whatever. I can't believe I caught that! I mean, I have beenshown how to hunt, but I've never caught anything! Raccontailmy mentor, is gonna be so proud of me!" She

exclaimed.

Tiger tried not to laugh at how much she talked and replied, "Yeah! That's cool!"

The carried on walking fora bit until they came to a fallen log over the stream.

"We have to cross over this log. Don't be intimidated, it's stuck to the ground somehow and if you stick your claws into it, it's relatively easy." She meowed, leaping on to the end of the log. She crossed over with ease and hopped off the other end.  
/Tiger, determined to prove he wasn't weak, jumped onto the log and starting stepping across. He dug his claws into the soft wood, watching every step. Before he knew it, he was on the other side. He scrambled off and shook out his fur.

They trotted to the right a little bit and came to a massive tree. Tiger looked up and he literally couldn't see the top.

"Okay. Obviously, this is the tallpine. As you can see, the bottom is covered with moss. Use your claws carefully scrape some moss off. When you have a big clump, carry it back to camp and put it in the pile insidehole in the treewhere

Frostfire keeps her

herbs." Rainpaw meowed. Tiger nodded and went to work.

Rainpaw had to correct him a few times, but soon he noticed his pile was pretty big. Rainpaw had an even bigger one next to his. He scraped a few more pawfuls from the ground and picked up his clump.

"Is this good?" He mumbled around a mouthful of moss. Rainpaw glanced up from her work. She grabbed her heap and nodded. They ran back to camp, well, Rainpaw ran, Tiger scrambled. When they got back, it felt like Tiger's paws were falling off. He

was

immensely tired and wanted to fall asleep immediately.

They put their moss on the pile and climbed out of the hole

They immediately went into the patient's den and laid down in their respective nests. Tiger fell asleep in the blink of an eye. His sleep was riddled with dreams of hunting in the pine forest, earning food for the clan.

Tiger woke the day after, his eyes still dropping with fatigue. He slowly rose from his nest, shaking moss from his pelt. He stepped out of the den and was appalled at the sight of the sun in the middle of the sky.

He scrambled into the medicine den. Frostfire glanced up from washing her ears.

"Tiger, I was wondering when you would come in. Rainpaw wants to introduce you to the other apprentices. She's in the apprentice den, which I assume you know the location of." The white she-cat meowed, looking annoyed. Tiger nodded and walked out.  
/He

made his way to the apprentice den and stepped inside.

"Tiger! I was waiting. Well, I want you to meet all the other apprentices." She meowed brightly. Tiger sat and wrapped his tail around his paws.

"Okay, so this is Redpaw, I think you've already seen him." Rainpaw said, flicking her tail at a ginger tom with blue eyes.

"This is Beetlepaw." She meowed, pointing her tail at a plump black tom who looked very bored and indifferent.

"That's Pinepaw, my brother." She said, walking past a Dark brown tabby tom with vibrant green eyes.

"And this is Darkpaw." She meowed, brushing past a black tom.

"So yeah, that's it. You know who's who and where everything is, so what's next?

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, I've been on vacation at the beach. I'll try to put up twomore chapters in the next few days tomake up for it. Please review and tell me how you like the story, and if I need to change anything. Thanks! -Tigerslash**  
/


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